


The Edge

by Deydeyh



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn, soft josie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:28:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24014470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deydeyh/pseuds/Deydeyh
Summary: Set after 1x12.Hope and the twins get closer after Josie's revelation, but Hope and Josie struggle to find their footing in this new friendship as more and more feelings get involved.orHope and Josie are two idiots pining after each other oblivious to the other's feelings.
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman
Comments: 22
Kudos: 163





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys,  
> This is my first fic, so all remarks are welcome! Seriously. And let me know if it feels like one of the characters is ooc, and I will try to fix that.
> 
> There's no Malivore but the monsters still come to try and destroy the school. 
> 
> I hope you like it!

Hope had always known she had a thing for Josie. Ever since they were little and she observed the twins from afar. The brunette had a softness to everything she did, always so attentive to everyone around her and caring. Really, who could not fall for that.

So that is what Hope did. She fell in love with Josie, without being able to put words on this feeling. They rarely spoke, but her heart felt strange each time Josie would look her way or send her a shy wave from the other side of the room.

And then they grew up. And her life got turned upside down. And her room almost burned down, and things changed. She became the target of Lizzie’s snarky remark for no apparent reason, and Josie would look at everywhere but her whenever they found themselves in the same vicinity.

Hope spent nights trying to make sense of what she could have done, laying on her bed in her room that still had a faint smell of burn. No matter how long she thought about it, she never was able to come up with an answer. So after some time, she gave up.

Her feelings for Josie never really went away though. They were buried, deep down, but still present, as a reminder of what she’d never have.

Until that night, when Josie admitted having started the fire because she had a crush on Hope. And what was she supposed to say to that? So she smiled, and before things got awkward, she excused herself to leave the twins “to talk”, throwing a small smile Josie’s way and wishing both girls good night.

After leaving the twins’ room, Hope found herself in a position she had not been in in some time, on her bed, looking at the ceiling, and thinking about every last encounter she had with the brunette witch.

It was a weird feeling, knowing you could have had the one thing you always wanted if you had just actually tried to get it instead of doubting every little action. Hope may be brave when it came to fighting monsters, but she knew she was petrified when it came to taking any sort of personal risk that could affect her life.

Her mind started to wonder and ponder the reasons that led Jodie to try to retrieve her note. She was sad that the girl felt the need to hide her feelings from her. Was she really that scary to Josie? She was well aware that she did not give off the image of a warm and fuzzy girl, but she never thought she would scare Josie so much that the brunette would nearly burn down the whole school to avoid the tribrid from finding out her true feelings. And that didn’t sit well with her. It made her feel like throwing up, for causing Josie any sort of pain.

Deciding dwelling on the past would not do her any good, she changed into her pajamas and went to the kitchen to get some food before going to bed.

As she got closer to the kitchen, she heard someone digging through the cupboards.

“Lizzie?”

“Oh shit”, the girl yelped, turning around and almost spilling the content of the box of cereals on the floor, “wear some bells around your neck, would you”.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you”, Hope said softly. Lizzie was looking at her expectantly, but Hope had no idea what to say to her after the day they had, and the silence started to get awkward.

“I’m…”

“How are…”

“Sorry, go first”, Hope told her.

“I’m sorry about what happened. About the fire, about being awful to you for something you had nothing to do with. For everything.” It was one of those rare times that Lizzie looked like she meant every word she said, so Hope listened, trying not to cry.

She felt so much lighter, without knowing in the first place that something was weighting her down. Finally knowing that she wasn’t the one at fault for the tense situation between her and the twins made her feel like a big part of her worries just vanished. For once, she was not blaming herself. And it felt good.

“Please don’t be mad at Josie, she really didn’t mean to cause you any harm, we were young and stupid”

Hope gave her a watery smile, “I'm not”, and she meant it. “Tell her. If she worries, which she probably will. Please, tell her I’m not mad?”

“I will”, Lizzie smiled. “But maybe you could also tell her yourself? Breakfast tomorrow?”, the blonde asked hesitantly with a small smile, not knowing what was the proper etiquette for their situation.

And Hope will blame the dust, but a tear fell down her eye as she starting laughing “yeah, I’d love that”. Lizzie was extending her an olive branch, and she’d be stupid if she did not grab it with both hands.

The next morning, Hope woke up feeling queasy. She turned off her alarm and sighed. How was she supposed to sit through breakfast with the twins and pretend everything was normal?

She hadn’t been able to fall asleep after her encounter in the kitchen with Lizzie, her mind always going back to Josie. Josie’s confession the night before had brought back all the feelings she had managed to bury all those years ago, and not in a good way. It left her confused and feeling guilty. She was dating Landon, he was supposed to be the one occupying her mind and keeping her awake. Not Josie.

Dating Landon had felt like a good opportunity to finally move on and come to terms with the fact that nothing would ever happen between her and the brunette. He was cute, funny, and most importantly, normal. Hope was not stupid (although that was debatable in certain circumstances), she knew she was attractive enough to have guys, and even the occasional girl, looking her way. But she always turned any invitation to go out down. After one too many sleepless night, she finally realized why: she was unconsciously hoping Josie reciprocated her feelings, and she thought that in the off chance she might, seeing Hope with some guy would destroy any possibility there ever was. So she remained alone, until she accepted that she needed to move on. And then, she met Landon.

With one glance at the time, she hurried out of bed and started to get ready for the day, deciding to deal with the breakfast situation during the breakfast situation, Landon forgotten for the moment. She would deal with him when she will have to.

Lizzie had not really provided her with any more information than “breakfast tomorrow”, so she decided to head straight to the breakfast hall and not make things even more awkward by going to the twins’ room first. When she got there, she took a quick look around to try to spot the girls, and saw Lizzie waving her hand enthusiastically at her. Josie had her back to her, and turned around to see what caused her sister to act like a maniac and drop her yogurt on the table all of a sudden. Hope’s breath caught in her throat as the sight of her, and she smiled shyly at Josie’s small wave.

She nodded her head to the side to let the girls know she would join them after getting some food.

_Pull yourself back together, what the fuck is wrong with you? You’ve seen Josie almost every day for 10 years, and you decide now to forget how to breathe? Act normal, don’t be weird, it’ll be fine. God what would people say if they knew what was going on in your head? The big bad tribrid chocking to death because she saw a pretty girl._

Shaking her head, she made her way to the table the twins where sat at, deciding to sit next to Josie rather than having to face her. Small victories, she told herself.

Lizzie was the first one to speak. “Look who decided to grace us with her presence. The Almighty Hope Mikaelson”.

Both Josie and Hope rolled her eyes at her, and shared a look and a smile.

Josie gently said a small “hey” to Hope, before looking at the ground and going back to eating her breakfast.

“So, since the Holy Trinity is back together, I was thinking we should do something to celebrate. Let the past be in the past. Ashes to ashes, blah blah blah”

“Lizzie!” Josie exclaimed, her eyes almost bulging out of her face.

On the other side of the table, Lizzie looked too proud of her joke to let Josie ruin her mood. The blonde smirked at Hope as Hope said “it’s fine Josie, really. I’m honestly just glad everything is in the clear now and we can move on”, she said the last part looking pointedly at Lizzie, who shrugged.

“So? Tonight? Celebratory end of war movie?” and this time, Josie kicked her under the table “Ouch, abusive much?”

Hope decided to intervene and end Josie’s misery “Sounds good to me. Josie?”

Josie turned her head abruptly towards Hope with a deer caught in the headlights expression on her face “Hum, yes. Movie. Tonight. Yes”.

The conversation kept flowing between the girls before they all had to head to class, agreeing on meeting at the twins’ room at 8PM.

* * *

For the rest of the day, Hope had a smile on her face. Other students kept giving her weird looks as they passed her in the hallway, did she really look that miserable usually?

* * *

After her last class, Hope decided to head to Landon’ room to see how he was doing. She had not seen him since they got back from their trip the day before, and the guilt she was feeling in the morning came rushing back.

She knocked on his door and after hearing a faint “come in”, the pushed it open and was met with the curly haired boy sitting on his bed, guitar in hand.

“Hey, I just came in to see how you were feeling. I haven’t seen you today.” There, she could do this. This was Landon, the sweet guy who danced with her, and who wrote her a song.

He smiled to her as he put his guitar back on its stand, and Hope felt immediately better. “I should be asking you that, mummy hunter.”

And she laughed, because it felt good. Landon felt good. “Not as exciting as it sounds, and the twins did most of the work. But the vomiting bugs part was really an amazing experience. 10/10 would recommend.”

“Hum, should I even want to be kissing you right now?”, he said with a small laugh, getting up from the bed and walking towards a laughing Hope to hug her.

“Shouldn’t you want to be kissing me all the time?”, she replied, with a quirk of her eyebrow, before Landon pecked her multiple times between giggles.

Landon felt good. Landon was easy.

“So, what’s your plans for the night? Any post-monster celebration?”

“Actually, Lizzie invited me to a movie night”, Hope said, with a soft smile at the idea of relinking their old friendship.

“Oh that is new. But good. Very good. -” Hope felt he was about to start to ramble, so she interrupted him before he had a chance to get any further.

“We had the time to talk, and set things straight” Hope rolled her eyes internally at that. Things were definitely not _straight_. “We realized we have wasted so much time hating on each other instead of being friends, so we’re making up for it.”

Landon took a small step back to look at her face and untangled himself a bit from her, but still holding her close. “I’m happy for you Hope, you deserve good friends you can count on.”

Landon was good, which made her feel even more awful lying to him about the real reasons behind her truce with the twins.

* * *

Getting back to her room, Hope opted to shower and change into more comfortable clothes before going to the twins'.

She removed her school uniform, putting it on her desk chair, and went to her laundry basket in her bathroom to put her underwear in. She turned on the water, as warm as her skin would allow it without burning her, and hopped in the tub.

Once under the hot stream, she released a breath she didn’t know she was holding. Yes, she was happy she was back on speaking terms with the girls, but the downside was that her feelings for Josie came rushing back to her, and she felt like suffocating. Josie had said she _had_ a crush on her. It was all in the past, right? So this new bit of information did not change anything. It did. But it shouldn’t. She had Landon, she finally found like she was starting to take control of her life. Until Josie.

 _Josie_. Josie with her perfect kissable lips, soft skin and kind eyes. And _legs_. Damn those legs. Josie who cared more for others than herself. Josie who always looked at her like she wanted to tell her something she couldn’t voice out loud. Landon never stood a chance. And neither did she.

She had broken down all of Hope’s walls without even trying. Actually, she got in before Hope had built those walls, and Hope never had the will to escort her out. It felt nice, to have someone on the inside, even if they never talked.

This was the thing about Josie. She never tried with Hope, but yet she always succeeded where many before had failed. It all came naturally.

All of a sudden, Hope got mad at herself. She was the one who created this situation in the first place, having a stupid crush on Josie and nurturing it, until it became too much for her to handle. Josie’s revelation would have already been forgotten had she not harbored the same feeling the brunette did for her. Yet, here she was. Back to square one. Mind on a loop on Josie and only Jodie. See, Josie had invaded her mind without even trying.

Hope released a defeated sigh before turning off the water and getting out. She dried herself and put on a pair of sweatpants and an old New Orleans tee shirt, before brushing her teeth and combing her hair.

As she took one last look at herself in the mirror, she smiled, and realized she was actually looking forwards to her evening with Josie and Lizzie. Even if she will only admit it under torture, she had missed them, in a way you miss something you never really knew in the first place. She liked Lizzie, and that, even under torture, she won’t admit. Lizzie, despite her flaws, was witty and funny, and always there for Josie, in her weird selfish way. And Josie, Josie was better to have as a friend than not at all. Hope needed someone like Josie in her life, on whom she could count on. And who could count on her back.

In front of her mirror, she took a decision: she would not let her feelings get in the way of a friendship with Lizzie and Josie.

With that in mind, she turned off the lights of the bathroom, put on comfy socks and grabbed the bags of potato chips she had taken from the kitchen before going to meet her friends.

* * *

“No”

“Yes”

“No fucking way Lizzie, I said no”

“Come on Jo, stop shitting on my parade”

“What is literally wrong with you?”

Deciding now was the best time to make her presence known before the girls started to kill each other, Hope knocked on the door, which flew open within the second, revealing the twins facing each other, both with scowls on their face “Okayyyy…”

“Trimix, please come in, we were just choosing a movie”, Lizzie cheerfully said.

Josie rolled her eyes at that, “There is no ‘we’ in dictatorship, Lizzie.”

Hope felt a bit out of place, not knowing what to say next. Clearly, the twins had different tastes in movies, and she hoped she would not have to come and decide.

“How about we let Hope choose then?” _Oh god_. “We don’t tell her who chose which movie, and she decides.”

Josie looked unsure of her sister’s proposition, but shrugged at Hope, before Lizzie spoke again. “So, we have: The Hills have eyes, but the remake, or Inception. Your choice.”

Hope bit her lip as she hesitated, looking between the two girls to get a clue. Truth is, she had no idea who chose what, although from what she heard when she was standing behind the door and Josie’s firm no, she assumed Lizzie chose the horror movie. 

“Hum… The Hills have eyes…?” Truth is, Hope had wanted to see it, but never really got around to it.

“YES”, Lizzie yell, “take that Jojo!”

“I really don’t get it Hope, how can you enjoy such movies? Don’t you have enough monsters in your real life?” Josie wondered, with a down expression on her face.

Hope wished she could hold her in her arms and kiss her nose. _NO. Bad Hope. Bad_.

“Well,” she started, “that’s exactly the thing. It is nice for once to no be the one dealing with monsters. I just watch the screen, and I don’t worry about having to fight it. It’s actually quite relaxing when you think of it,” Hope finished with a smile and a shrug.

Until Josie muttered “Psycho” under her breath, which Hope assumed she was not supposed to hear. She laughed softly nevertheless, Josie turning a bit red when she realized she had been heard.

“Ok lovebirds, time to hit the lights and get our freaky on!”

Hope laughed louder while Josie exclaimed “Oh. My. God. _Lizzie_.”

So, maybe a horror movie wasn’t a great idea. Maybe it was a terrible idea. Hope was in the middle of the twins, with the computer on her legs. Josie, on her left side, was pressed against her side with her head buried in her neck, which made focusing on the movie very difficult for Hope.

She casted a glance at Lizzie after the particularly hard scene of the van, and she gave Hope a smirk while nodding her head in Josie’s direction, whose face was hidden in Hope’s neck. Hope rolled her eyes at Lizzie who appeared to be having the time of her life, making fun of Josie and torturing Hope at the same time. Two birds, one stone and all that.

Hope felt bad for Josie. Really bad. She took advantage of Lizzie’s bathroom break to apologize to her. “I’m really sorry Jo, I really had no idea you’d be that scared.” Hope said in a soft voice, trying to catch the brunette’s eyes, but she kept looking everywhere but at Hope.

“It’s fine, don’t worry. I knew this was bound to happen at some point, she has been bugging me about this movie for the past year. At least I’m lucky you’re here.” Josie said with a small smile and a blush.

God, Hope really never stood a chance.

They shared another smile, and Hope took this as an opportunity to voice her feelings. “I’m really glad things between us have been resolved. And before you say anything, I don’t blame you, it wasn’t your fault. God you were so young, Josie, how could you have known?”

“Thank you, Hope. I…”

“Shhh, it’s okay Josie. Really. Like I said, I’m glad to be with you guys.”

At that moment, the door opened and Lizzie came back carrying a jar of ice cream and three spoons. She was also feeling kind of bad for Josie. The movie was worse than she thought it was. She usually liked watching horror movies with her twin to poke some fun at her, but they usually never watched movies as bloody as this one.

She walked over to Hope and closed the computer, saying “Ok fine, that movie is terrible. Who wants ice cream?”

And just like that, the movie was forgotten and the girls started chatting about everything and anything, reminiscing from the past and gossiping about other students. Hope glanced at Josie from time to time, and the brunette caught her a few times, smiling brightly at her. Josie had been acting weird today, flushed, even distant. Hope understood, she had just admitted to having a crush on her and setting her room on fire. But she was glad the Josie she knew was slowly coming back.

Josie recalled the time in fifth grade when Lizzie had put a frog in Jed’s bag after he had been mean to Josie, and they all laughed together at the memory.

Hope was happy, and that night, she fell asleep within seconds.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter 2!
> 
> Thank you for your kind comments, kudos and subscriptions, it's really nice to know you like the story so far!

The following week was mostly the same. The twins settled in a new routine with Hope, meeting every day for breakfast and hanging out a few times after class. There hadn’t been any monster so far since the mummy and everyone was grateful for the reprieve.

Josie, however, could have used some distraction to take her mind off of Hope. Each time she was left with her thoughts, her mind zoned in on her. The tribrid occupied pretty much all of her waking thoughts, and even made an appearance in a dream once. In that dream, Josie found herself at the edge of the woods at night, with the moon bright enough to illuminate everything, looking at Hope in the distance. Hope looked back at Josie and smiled, before disappearing further into the woods. Josie tried to follow after her calling her name but could not find her again. Everything was silent until she heard a howling, and that's when she woke up. _What was that supposed to mean anyways?_

She was glad to have the tribrid back in her life, but she was not prepared of the onslaught of emotions she would feel each time they looked at each other. But she was slowly easing into it, learning to keep her emotions in check and act as if everything was fine. Years of bottled up feelings could help you with that. So, she tried to be the friend Hope needed her to be, and pretended not to be sick to her stomach whenever she saw her with Landon.

“You know, Captain of the Broodship, you could at least pretend to enjoy my company.”

Josie's attention flipped back to her sister, “Sorry Lizzie, this presentation has been taking most of my mind lately, I can’t wait for the week to be over.” The lie rolled off easily of her tongue. They were sitting in the dining hall having lunch, waiting for their friends to join them. 

Lizzie had noticed her sister acting different the past few days. The usually focused witch seemed to always have her head in the clouds with a sad look in her eyes. “I know what you need. Party at the old mill this Friday. It’ll be fun. But please, leave your sad face in your closet. You can put it back on on Monday”

MG appeared out of nowhere and sat next to the blonde with a cheerful smile, “Did I hear someone say party?”

Josie tuned out as soon as Kaleb took a sit and captured Lizzie’s attention. Her mind went back to the older girl to try to make sense of all her feelings. She was actually relieved to have finally shared her darkest secret with Hope, and by extent Lizzie. Each time her sister would direct one of her snarky remark at Hope, she was hit with a pang of guilt that wouldn’t leave her for the rest of the day. And of course, her sister had to make those remarks a daily occurrence.

She had spent the last week and a half mulling over Hope’s reaction to her revelation. At the time, she thought she had seen something (but what, she didn't know) in the older girl’s eyes who seemed completely surprised to learn about Josie's crush. But the more she thought about, the more she was convinced her mind was playing tricks on her. One thing was sure, out of all the scenarios Josie envisioned, Hope smiling and squinting her eyes at her was not one of them, and she had no idea what to make of it.

Well, she knew what she wanted to make of it, but running to Hope to kiss her wasn’t an option.

She wished it was though. She wished she could kiss Hope whenever she felt like it, especially when the girl was lost in thoughts and was frowning her eyebrows in the cutest way possible. She wished she could hold her hand and walk her to class. She also wished she could give her many orgasms. But she tried not to think too much about that, it always made her feel guilty to have such thoughts about her friend, like she was violating her trust in some way. Most of all though, she felt the urge to protect her, be there for her, be the person she could confide in. Physical attraction was one thing she could deal with, but she was in way over her head. 

She was snapped out of her thoughts when something hit her square on the forehead, and saw a pea when she looked down on the table. “What the hell Lizzie?!”

Managing to both looking innocent and proud of herself at the same time, the blonde got up from her sit at the table, “Classes are about to start, turn that frown upside down.”

She threw a hard look her way and picked up her plate, before heading to her first afternoon class, Magic History. Luckily, she didn’t share that class with any of her friends, and she rejoiced at the idea of having some time without anyone monitoring her every move.

Midway through the class, she excused herself to go to the restrooms, she forgot to go before class started and didn’t feel like waiting for another hour. On her way there, she saw Hope walking in the opposition direction, apparently carrying a duffle bag. She debated calling out to her before her mouth decided to do its own thing. “Hope, hey.”

Hope turned around and a smile broke on her face when she saw who had called her, “Hey Josie.”

The older girl wasn’t wearing her school uniform. Instead, she had on a pair of dark jeans with combat boots, and her leather jacket. “Going somewhere?”

She looked at the ground, as if embarrassed to have been caught. “Hum, your dad has been following some monster that seems to be getting closer to Mystic Falls, if the trail of bodies is anything to go by. We should be back by Friday.” Hope said, gesturing vaguely towards the direction of her dad’s office.

He hadn’t told her nor Lizzie he would be leaving. Typical.

“Please be careful?” Josie asked, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. She hadn’t meant to voice her concerns out loud, but it slipped anyways. It took the tribrid a short moment to react, taken aback by Josie's statement, opening and closing her mouth once, before coming closer to Josie and taking the taller girl into her arms.

It was weird, hugging Hope. First, because the girl wasn’t wearing the heels she usually wore, so she was significantly shorter than Josie. Second, because how can something so wrong feel so good? Because it was, wrong. Hope was her friend, her very not-single friend. Her very not-single _straight_ friend. But all she could think about what how good it felt to be so close to the girl, and how good her hair smelled. Josie relaxed into her arms for a couple of seconds, enjoying the moment while it lasted, still a bit surprised by Hope initiating any form of physical contact, before pulling apart. “Scout’s honor,” Hope said with a grin and a glint in her eyes.

“I’ll see you Friday then.”

“Yes. See you Friday.” Hope gave her one last smile and went back in the direction she was first going in.

If Josie took a moment longer to turn around in the direction of the restrooms to appreciate the view of Hope's departing body, she'll deny it. 

* * *

When Friday rolled around, she had not heard from her dad since Tuesday evening, when he called her to let her know they had arrived at the motel they were spending the night at before hitting up the road again in the morning.

“Relax Josie. As much as it pains me to admit it, dad’s with Hope, he’ll be fine. They probably got delayed or something.”

Josie looked at her twin who was sitting on her bed, refusing to admit to her or herself that yes, she was of course worried about her dad, but she was mostly worried about Hope. Lizzie was right though, she had no reason to be worried, she had never been worried before when the duo left for days to chase monsters and save the world. Just because she was on speaking terms with the tribrid didn’t mean that the situation was more dangerous now than it was before. She knew that. But she couldn't help it. 

Just at that moment, Lizzie’s phone rang.

“Oh hey dad, thank god Josie was about to burn a whole in the floor with all her pacing. … Yes ok, I’ll tell her. … No no don’t worry, we’ll see you tomorrow. … Be safe, bye.”

“So?” Josie asked impatiently.

“Dad’s car got a flat tire yesterday and he didn’t have a spare one because that’s where he stores the weapons,” Lizzie rolled her eyes at that. “They had to wait for assistance longer than expected since they were in the middle of nowhere. They’ll be back some time tonight.”

Releasing a breath, Josie didn’t notice her twin casting her a worried glance. It wasn’t the first time their dad had gone on a mission with Hope without giving any news for a couple of days, and it probably won’t be the last either. But Josie had never seemed to react like this before. “Everything ok, Jo?”

“Yeah, sorry. I’m just tired, the week has been awful it’s just getting all to my head” she reassured her sister, moving to her desk to sort it out to keep her busy. 

Lizzie eyed her suspiciously. “Huh huh. Are you sure this isn’t about our new foster puppy?”

“What?”, had Josie been caught?

“Short, blue eyes. Very annoying. No sense of self preservation.” She had _._

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She knew playing dumb was not going to work. With all her flaws, her twin was still her twin, and she could read her like an open book.

“Oh come on, don’t play dumb with me Josette. I see you. I see _right_ through you.”

 _Clearly_. Josie couldn’t stay in her room anymore for fear she might say something she'll later regret. She quickly grabbed her bag by her bed and headed for the door. “I forgot I have a study group, I’m already late. I’ll see you before the party.” She opened it quickly and exhaled once she closed it behind her. She heard her twin shout “This conversation isn't over.” She ignored her and made her way out of the school and towards the forest.

She sat by the dock, enjoying the quietness and the sun warming up her skin. Should she tell Lizzie the truth and admit that her crush never really went away? The only problem with this option was the admitting part. The moment she acknowledged her feelings for Hope out loud, there was no going back. Last week, she managed to make it sound like it was in the past, hoping that if she could convince Hope and Lizzie, she could also convince herself. 

She would tell Lizzie and what? Nothing would change. Hope would still be dating Landon, and Josie would still be envious of a guy who never had anything in life to begin with. What did that make her? The moment she told anyone about her _current_ crush, it became real, and she was nowhere near ready to deal with the consequences of that.

Josie looked around her, admiring the green of the trees surrounding the lake and enjoying the feeling of the light breeze on her skin. She was glad to have this place so close to school. Not many students came here, knowing this was the “reserved” spot for the Saltzmans. Everything was so peaceful that she could forget her problems whenever she came here. It was just her and the nature, everything was easy and uncomplicated.

Maybe speaking to Lizzie could help her get over it and move on. Her sister would most likely call her on her bullshit, and put things into perspective. The more she thought about it, the more restless she got, and she was soon drumming her fingers against the wooden deck. Sighing after realizing she ruined her moment of peace and quiet herself, she made her way back to the school.

The closer she got she got to her room, the more uncomfortable she felt. She knew her sister wouldn't drop the subject. All of a sudden, her shirt was too tight, constricting her throat and wrists, and breathing became harder. She had no idea what to say to Lizzie, _I should really pull myself together before going in_ , she though.

She took the final steps that led her to her door, and exhaled on last time before pushing it open, revealing Lizzie digging around her closet, most likely looking for something to wear for the night. Without turning around, Lizzie released a sigh and hung her head down, as Josie walked over her bed.

Finally gathering the courage to face her sister, the blonde turned around, and apologized. “I’m sorry Jo. I didn’t mean to upset you. I was just trying to poke some fun, I had no idea it was that serious.”

Although Josie appreciated her sister’s apology, her irritation was palpable, “yeah well.”

Closing the closet, Lizzie slowly walked to her and sat next to her on the bed. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Absolutely not.” Here goes trying to acknowledging problems to solve them.

“Okay, I respect that. But please know that I am here if you need to talk. Anytime.”

After what felt like forever, Josie breathed through her nose and huffed at herself, feeling stupid for making a big deal out of a childish one-sided teenage crush. “There’s not much to say really.”

Lizzie took her sister’s hand and held it on her lap. “Do you still have feelings for Hope?” she asked with the tiniest smile, her voice so soft and gentle that Josie wasn’t sure she had spoken.

“She’s with Landon.”

“How does that answer my question?”

Josie looked at the ceiling, almost defeated, her eyes starting to water. A sight. “I don’t know. No.” she mumbled. Until she finally admitted “Yes.” Lizzie squeezed her hand in a show of comfort.

“We’ll figure something out Jo. Plus, the hobbit isn’t even in playing in your league. He’s not even sitting in the bleachers, he’s standing outside of the stadium begging for a ticket.”

That made Josie laugh. “You can’t tell anyone.” Josie took a serious expression and looked directly at her sister in the eyes.

“Of course not Jo. Don’t worry.” She raised her left hand in the air and put her right one on her chest, “Your secret is safe with me.”

As Josie started to get up from the bed, Lizzie took her hand back and made her sit down again. “Josie I’m really sorry”

With a confused expression and scrunched eyebrows, Josie asked, “what are you sorry for?”

“All this. I’m sorry you felt like you couldn’t share that piece of yourself with me for fear I’d go after her. I never realized that this was how you felt.”

With a smile, Josie hugged her sister. “Thank you,” she whispered. Wanting to finish this conversation, she changed the subject “Wanna get ready?”

“YES!”

* * *

The girls arrived at the party an hour later, ready to release the stress of the school week. Josie had decided on comfy black skinny jeans, white sneakers and a grey cashmere sweater. Lizzie, of course, had to overdo it and was wearing a light blue dress and low boots.

Their friends were already there, either sitting around the fire or by the drink station. Trying to make their way through the crowd of people that had gathered at the entrance of the mill, the girls went to get some drinks before joining MG by the fire.

When he saw them, he welcomed them with a big smile and open arms. “My favorite twins!” He had clearly already been drinking. Putting his arms around their shoulders, he guided them to sit on the tree trunk that served as a bench, one on each side of him.

Once Josie was settled, she glanced around to take in her surroundings. Most people were either drunk or on the way there, and everyone seemed to be having fun, laughing, dancing or just chatting. She scanned the crowd to see if she could catch a glimpse of auburn hair, but was unsuccessful. She had no idea if the girl was back from her trip yet, or if she was, if she would even come to the party. Hope was not exactly famous for her social involvement.

She was disrupted from her thoughts by MG slightly hitting his shoulder with hers. “How are you doing Jo?” He tilted his half empty glass towards her and she clinked her glass to his, laughing at his antics.

“Good. Happy it’s officially the weekend.” They kept chatting for some time, MG using his vamp speed to refill her glass each time she was close to finishing it.

When they heard loud cheers coming from the mill, they both decided to get up and go check out the beer pong table. That’s when she saw them. Hope and Landon, chatting together by a tree, almost unnoticeable in the darkness of the night, but Josie could see enough to see they were standing close to each other, Landon talking excitedly to Hope, who was laughing.

“You coming?”

Turning to look at MG, Josie shook her head in an attempt to get rid of those images, and offered him a smile “Yeah.” There was no point in doing anything else anyways. She didn’t want to let that ruin what could be a good night with her friends.

MG noticed the mood of her friend had changed, and he put down his drink to focus his attention on her. “You look like someone ate your last cookie, what’s going on?”

She smiled at him, “Nothing, just a lot on my mind.” MG was really a good friend, she was glad to have someone like him in her corner. He looked at her with understanding eyes, “Want to talk about it?”

She shook her head, “Not really, but thank you.” He smiled at her and Josie followed him to the ping pong table, forcing herself not to look back in Hope’s direction. People were gathered around the table, captivated by a tight game between the werewolves and the witches. The werewolves scored and high fived each others, while the witches left the table smiling at Josie on their way. "Alright, who's next?"

Josie was laughing with MG after winning their second consecutive round against the werewolves when she suddenly stopped and straightened up when she noticed Hope approach the table.

“Hey Jo.”

God, she looked good. Hope’s face was illuminated by the many fairy lights inside the mill, making her glow. She was breathtaking. _Speak Josie, speak. Stop staring_. “Hey, when did you get back?”

The game kept going behind her, so she distanced herself a little from the table and asked MG to play her shot. “About an hour ago. Are we winning?” Hope asked, her face tilting towards the table.

“Hell yeah baby we are!” MG said with a big laugh, which in turn made both girls smile at him. He wiggled the ball in front of her, “You playing Jo?”. 

She apologized to Hope, “Don't move, I'll be right back. Duty calls.” She took the ball from MG's fingers as she heard Hope laugh behind her. She placed herself in the center of the table, hoping to score and maybe impress the tribrid, like the frat boy that she had apparently become. She aimed at the center of the triangle and threw the ball, sinking the second werewolves' cup of the game. _Thank you, Lord_. Josie, busy high fiving a very drunk MG, didn’t notice Hope raising an eyebrow at her in an impressed way. 

She resumed her position next to Hope, hoping to chat a little more before it was her turn to play again. “So, how was -“

“There you are!” Josie looked to the side in the direction of the voice to see who interrupted them, as if she didn’t already know. Landon. When he noticed Josie, a smile broke onto his face. “Hey Josie, how are you?”

She really could not hate him, no matter how hard she tried. He was a genuinely nice guy, and it wasn’t his fault if Hope wasn’t returning Josie’s feelings. She also wasn’t returning them before he got in the picture, so really, she couldn’t blame him for anything. But that didn’t mean that seeing them happy together didn’t hurt, wishing she was in his place, bringing Hope drinks at a party and kissing her.

“Sorry, I need to go use the restroom. I’ll see you later?” Both Hope and Landon looked at Josie’s fast retreating form, then looking at each other wondering what had just happened.

Once she was out of the mill, she spotted her sister talking to Kaleb and Rafael. _Restroom? In the middle of the woods? Well done, Josie._

“Josie?” _Of course_. 

She didn't need to turn around to know who the voice belonged to, clenching her jaw. “Not tonight Blair witch.”

“Feisty, I like it. I came to offer you a drink. A peace offering, if you’d prefer” With a quirk of an eyebrow, Penelope handed Josie a solo cup filled with red liquid.

“Really? You have to roofie girls to get your way now? That’s low Penelope, even for you.”

The short haired witch started to laugh and smirked, “you used to like it when I went low.”

Embarrassed and looking at everywhere but her ex, Josie harshly whispered, “you know that’s not what I meant!”

Winking at her, Penelope blew her a kiss and started to walk backwards, looking at Josie dead in the eyes. “Well, if you change your mind, you know where to find me Jojo.”

Josie had the unfortunate idea to choose this moment to look at the mill, where she saw Hope and Landon sharing a kiss. And that is probably what she will blame her next words on. That, and the alcohol. “Wait! Penelope, wait.” She caught up to the girl and grabbed her wrist to turn her around. Penelope opened her mouth to say something, _probably some snarky bullshit_ thought Josie, but she was interrupted by Josie’s lips on hers before she could get anything out. “Wanna get out of here?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For some reason Josie's pov is harder to write than Hope's. 
> 
> Also, I'm not sure I'll go with the whole Lizzie is a bitch to Josie storyline. She'll have her moments of course, but nothing as far as asking her sister to loose the Miss Mystic Falls title to Hope. 
> 
> A.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope's take on the party at the mill.
> 
> (Someone was kind enough to let me know I fucked up the end by forgetting the Handon kiss that happened in Josie's pov. This is a repost of the exact same chapter with this mistake fixed - all my apologies.)

Hope’s forehead was resting against the car window as she absentmindedly looked at the trees passing one after the other. This mission had taken longer than planned and she was exhausted. All she wanted was a warm shower and head off to bed. However, as soon as Alaric’s Jeep passed the gates of the school, she her eyes caught a group of students creeping in the woods in the distance. It was Friday after all, there were high chances a party at the old mill was happening. Maybe Josie would be there. She’ll sleep tomorrow.

The night was pitch dark as Alaric parked the car in front of the entrance of the school with a way too enthusiastic smile after such a long drive. “Home sweet home!”

Hope rolled her eyes at him, opening her door and jumping out of the car, appreciating regaining feelings in her legs. “Finally.” She really didn't have the energy to pretend she wasn't done with this day. This monster had been harder to get rid of than expected and the only thing she wanted was to take a warm shower and scrub off all the slime that covered most of her body.

“Oh come on, you like our little road trips. Bonding time, gas station food, lousy motels.”

She had to give it to him, he was never phased by her roughness. She at least knew how to appreciate his attempts at lightening the mood, as futile as they were this instant. “You keep telling yourself that Dr. Saltzman, you might start to believe it someday.” They both got to the trunk to retrieve their bags, walking side by side until they got in the school.

Alaric shot her an appreciative glance. “Have a good night of sleep Hope, thank you for your help.”

She replied dismissively, “Yes, you too.” She still had a hard time keeping her resentment in check ever since the comments he made after she released the Necromancer. More often than not, his behavior made her question his intentions with her, wondering if he really had her best interests at heart, or if she was nothing more than a tool he could use to fight evil. If he needed her help, she was trustworthy enough to defeat the monster of the week, if not, she suddenly became the irrational teenager too reckless to have an opinion on anything.

She was also put off by the way he treated the twins, which was not much different from his attitude towards her really, barely giving them the time of the day or being the overprotective worried father all within the span of an hour. No wonder they had so many issues. He frequently acted brashly, without any regards for his life, and she had to remind him that he was a father of two and wasn’t expendable. She couldn’t even imagine what would happen to the girls if their dad never made it back from one of their trips. They would never forgive her.

She needed to clear her mind and tonight would be a great opportunity to relax with her friends and do just that.

In her room, she quickly got rid of her dirty clothes, throwing her white tee-shirt in the trash with an annoyed sigh, knowing full well that she'll never manage to clean it.

She felt immensely better after a shower, the warm water helping soothe her after her day. She was digging through her drawer when she heard a knock at her door. The thought that it was Josie checking up on her briefly crossed her mind. "Yes?"

“Hi Hope, it’s me. Hum, Landon.” _Definitely not Josie_.

“You can come in.”

As Landon pushed the door opened, his eyes went straight to Hope's body, only covered by a towel, and his cheeks flushed. “Oh wow. Wow. I said that already, but wow. I’m sorry. I’ll stop talking now.” His eyes were wide and he tried to calm down his nerves by taking in a long breath, and exhaling. “Wow.”

Hope chuckled, shaking her head at his awkwardness. “I was actually going to come look for you,” _she wasn’t_ , “I saw some people going in the woods earlier in the direction of the old mill, I wanted to know if you maybe wanted to go check it out?”

“You? Wanting to go check out a party? Who are you and what has that monster done to my girlfriend?”

“After those past few days, I thought I could use the distraction.”

His demeanor switched at that, his eyes showing concern and a sad smile appeared on his face. He knew she wasn’t particularly fond of those missions, and how they always left her drained afterwards. “That bad, huh?”

She really didn’t need him worrying about her or pitying her, so she did her best to plaster a fake smile and changed the subject. “Just glad it’s finally over.” She headed towards her bathroom and turned around to Landon before closing the door, “I’ll go change, why don't you wait for me here and we can go together? I'll be quick.”

With the door closed, Hope released a long, exasperated sigh. Whenever her mind was on the younger witch, Landon was completely erased from her mind and she behaved like she didn’t have a boyfriend. Usually, that would lead her to feeling terrible for not thinking of him in the first place. No matter how hard she tried, there was no solution to this equation in which one or more parties wouldn’t get their heart broken, she just selfishly hoped it wasn’t hers.

She forced herself to get dressed quickly, black jeans, the only white tee-shirt she had left with a black cardigan and sneakers, and tried to push all feeling of guilt to the back of her mind. With one last look in the mirror, she exited the bathroom to meet Landon, who was sprawled on her bed with his legs dangling from the side.

She observed him for a few seconds as she thought about how despite everything, she was lucky to have someone like him in her life, and her lips subtly quirked upward, “You ready to go?”

He sat up with a smile of his own and offered her his hand, “Lead the way.”

When they arrived at the old mill, the first thing Hope noticed was the smell of alcohol mixed with teenage sweat. _Great_. The second thing was Josie, sitting next to MG by the fire, animatedly talking and laughing with the vampire. Her shoulders were shaking with laughter as she hung over MG’s side for support. Those rare moments were Hope’s favorite, when Josie radiated happiness and was exactly where and with whom she was supposed to be. She cherished them as they were very scarce, the witch usually more reserved - “Hope?”

Her eyes widen and her head snapped to Landon, embarrassed at being caught not paying attention to him, “Huh?” _Had he said something to her?_ “I’m sorry, what?”

His eyes squinted at her suspiciously. He had noticed her zoning out more and more often recently, blissfully unaware of the world around her, which didn’t sound like his usually sharp and alert girlfriend. “I asked if you wanted anything to drink.”

“Oh um, just some soda, thank you.” She moved to stand against a nearby tree as Landon shot her one last glance and went to get their drinks.

There, she had an unobstructed view of the girl who hadn’t left her mind for close to two weeks. God, when did she become such a stalker? She took advantage of her boyfriend’s absence and the obscurity the tree provided to watch Josie, who was still unaware of her presence. The girl was still engrossed in a conversation with MG and other people Hope didn’t recognize, animatedly taking part in the exchange.

Ever since Josie had revealed her past crush, the witch consumed the tribrid’s mind, it was ridiculous really. She started to notice her more too, becoming more conscious of her presence whenever they were together. The revelation had brought a whole new dimension to Hope’s own feelings she was entirely not ready for.

She saw Landon approaching from the corner of her eye, two drinks in hand, and focused her attention back on him. After handing her her glass, his eyes went to where Hope had been looking in while sipping his beer. “Should we go say hi?”

For the moment, she was fine being with Josie, yet far from her. “Maybe later.” She found a strange sense of comfort in being able to observe without being seen. It gave her a fake impression of control on the situation, being the one in charge of deciding whether to be seen or remain invisible. She went for the latter for now.

“How was your trip with Dr. Saltzman?” She welcomed the distraction Landon’s question provided, talking to Landon had this effect of bringing her back to reality. Landon existed, he was real, unlike her fantasy world filled with Josie Saltzman. This of course didn’t stop her from glancing from time to time the witch’s way, but for the most part, she managed to stay focus on the conversation with her boyfriend, laughing and smiling with him. 

Her commitment to debating which mythical creature would appear next however wavered when she noticed that Josie was no longer by the fire. “I’ll go get another drink, do you want something?”

“Stay, I’ll go.” Well, here goes her plan of looking for Josie.

She reached for his forearm to keep him in place. “How about you take care of the next round?” Landon accepted the offer with a smile.

Entering the mill, she passed the beer pong table and her eyes caught a glimpse of Josie’s wavy brown hair and gray sweater. She was standing close enough to the table to see most of what was going on, but far enough so that she wouldn’t get caught staring. She felt like a predator watching her prey, waiting for the right opportunity to pounce the first chance she got. The moment she registered she had just compared her friend to a prey she was hunting, a wave of nausea hit her.

Thankfully, the table erupting in cheers forced Hope back to reality. MG and Josie were laughing and hugging to celebrate their victory, until the brunette saw the tribrid approach them and straightened up, sending her a sweet smile.

“Hey Jo.”

They only had time to exchange a few words before it was Josie’s turn to play again, and if Hope was impressed with Josie’s skills when she scored, she decided she was fine showing it.

Landon showing up a few minutes later put a final end to the conversation between the tribrid and the brunette witch, as Hope noticed Josie’s whole demeanor completely change as soon as the boy arrived. While the girl had been relaxed and cheerful a few seconds ago, she started to fidget and avoiding their eyes, and it wasn’t long before she bolted out of the mill, mumbling that she had to use the restrooms as an excuse.

Hope turned to face Landon and they both exchanged a look of confusion. “Well, that was absolutely not anti-climactic at all.” The tribrid’s face hardened at those words, already bothered by his interruption, and she opened her mouth to say something but closed it right after for fear of saying something she’d later regret. Completely clueless to what was going through Hope's mind, Landon leaned down and kissed her. She decided to let him, until he tried to deepen the kiss and she broke it off, lightly pushing him away. Before he had a chance to ask her what was wrong, she coldly told him she’d be by the fire and left him standing there, wondering what had just happened.

She was still distracted by Josie’s reaction when she spotted Rafael and Lizzie idly chatting, and waved her hand at them when she heard the blond twin call for her.

Lizzie wrapped her in a hug as soon as she approached them. She had quickly grown close to the blonde, more so than to Josie, as it pained her to admit. “Hope! I didn’t think you’d make it tonight!”

Rafael smiled at her and nodded his head in a way of greeting, preferring not to test her boundaries by hugging her as well. “Yeah, it’s nice that you could join us.” He told her in his soothing voice.

“I’m glad to be here.” She softly replied, “How -”

“Have you seen Josie?? It’s her turn to play and I can’t find her anywhere” MG came vampire-speed rushing, ping pong ball in hand and an air of desperation in his voice. He would not lose to the werewolves.

Hope was about to answer when Rafael beat her to it, shrugging with an uncomfortable expression on his face, “Last time I saw her she was making out with Penelope, and then they just ran towards the school.”

Wait, _what_?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked this one and thank you to those who took/take the time to comment, I really love reading your opinion on the story! 
> 
> I think I'll stop doing a different POV per chapter as the story moves forward, I know how annoying it is to have to wait just to have the same story told differently instead of progressing (and as you can also see, it would seem I easily mess those up). I wanted to take the time to do this at the beginning to really be able to set up each of their mindset separately and not throw everything at you at once. 
> 
> Let me know what you guys think and stay safe!
> 
> A.


End file.
